Let’s innovate the innovation process?
Today, a lot is said about Design Thinking, a set of methods and processes created by the north-American designer David Kelley, and that is being used more often by companies in the innovation processes, in all business fields.
It is a practical-creative process of problems or questions solution, which proposes a new way of looking at the problem, thinking “outside the box”, in a very empathic, collaborative way, always putting the people at the center of development, stimulating the teams to plan according to the needs of their consumers and clients.
The Design Thinking process consists basically of some steps:
- Immersion: approximation and better understanding of the problem;
- Analysis and Synthesis: organization, analysis and synthesis of the data collected during immersion;
- Ideation: phase of brainstorming, with generation of a big volume of ideas and without any judgment;
- Prototyping: stage in which the ideas transform into a physical material (prototypes);
- Tests: it’s time to share the prototypes with the users and obtain feedback.
And how can we relate the Design Thinking with the Consumer Researches? Thinking that both have the consumer as the main focus, the Qualitative Studies can and must be used during the DT process, whether in the ....
...initial stages of the process: the qualitative study helps understanding and defining the problem. Through it, it is possible to investigate the context of the problem, how people relate and behave with it, what are their needs and desires. The qualitative approach aims to create an empathic environment, capable of making people feel unique and revealing their deepest perceptions. This is how it is capable of bringing essential insights in these initial stages, and even problems and scenarios completely different from the ones which were initially thought.
...until the final stages of the process: in the phase of prototypes testing, the direct contact with the consumers in face of the qualitative approach can also work with a quick and also very interactive methodology for the discovering of possible opportunities of improvement. Observing and interacting with the consumers during the tests through this approach brings instant feedbacks and coming through the lens of the users themselves.
Therefore, the Qualitative Studies provide quick and dense insights, in addition to the more accessible costs. As examples, the depth interviews, ethnographic interviews and the Group Discussions can serve as powerful tools to bring a differential in this innovation process, with a big potential for the obtaining of more assertive results, and consequently closer to the needs of the consumer. Let’s innovate in this innovation process as well?
